Pneumatic starter for engines.



A. HUWILER & H. MAGGI.

PNEUMATIC STARTER FUR ENGINES. APPLICATION FAILED 00112. i916.

Patented Dec. 10, 1918. 7 b biSHEElfj-f'ifl :12

HUWILER & H. MAGGI. I

PNEUMATIC STARTER FOR ENGINES.

APPLICATION mzo OCT. 12. 1916. I

Patented D SHEETS-SHEET 2. z I ,A

M a 5, H {W7 8 u UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANTON HUWILER, OF BASEL, AND HARRY MAGGI, F ZURICH, SWITZERLAND.

PNEUMATIC STARTER FOR ENGINES. I

Applicationflled October 12, 1916. Serial No. 125,210.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ANTON HUWILER, of

Basel, and HARRY MAGGI, of Zurich, Switzerland," both citizens ofSwitzerland, have invented certain new and useful Improvement inPneumatic Starters for Engines; and we do hereby declare the followingto bee full, I

clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to lettersor figures'of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

The object of the present invention is to provide a starter which byreason of its compact construction is especially suitable for motor carsof Various makes. To allow of holding a large amount of compressed airin a small storage chamber the apparatus compresses the air very highly,to about 100 atmo'spheres, and with such a large storage of energymotors of very high power can be started. Moreover, the apparatus givesvery reliable action. The invention is illustrated in the annexeddrawings, showing one form apparatus on the line A A of Fig. .4.

of construction.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of th Fig. 2 a plan view, partly insection on the line B B of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the apparatus seen from the crank shaft.

Fig. 4 is a cross section on the line C O of Fig.1.

Fig. 5 is a cross section on the line D D of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating the application of the apparatus to amotor car driven by an internal combustion engine.

In Figs. 1, I and 5, I and III are low pres sure cylinders and II and IVthe high pressure cylinders formed in the casing G; 8 is the piston inthe cylinder I and 9 the piston in the cylinder IV. 4 are cross-heads,with each of which the pistons of-one high pressure cylinder and one lowpressure cylinder are connected. 3 are slide bearings for thecrank-shaft 2 the bearings sliding in slide 7 in the cross-heads 4; 6are guides for the cross-heads. 1 is the driving sprocket wheel for thecrankshaft 2, B the driving chain for the distributing valve 0, R is areducing gear,,and ,.M the explosion motor; 0 are 'valves' foi' thedischarge of compressed air from the high pressure cylinders, g is anonreturn yalve, s an air filter chamber, t the connectlon of the casingG to the steel flask 11, shown in Fig. 6 for the compressed air,

a the lever for the control valve 70, and 'w is a relief valvecontrolled by, the lever z.

The distributing valve 11 is cylindrical and is rotatably mounted in abore of the casing G transversely to the cylinders. A longitudinalpassage a in the valve communicates at one end with the atmosphere andwith arcuate passages I), 6', formed in the periphery of the valve atdifferent longitudinal positions and angularly displaced in relation toeach other, as shown in Fig. 2.

In the casing G are formed two channels 0, c, which communicate with thebore on opposite sides of the valve '22 and with opposite ends of thelow pressure cylinder I (Fig. 1) While channels 0', 0' in the casingalso connect opposite sides of the bore with opposite ends of the lowpressure cylinder III as shown in dotted lines, Figs. land 5.

The passage 6, during the rotation of the valve 12 communicatesalternately with the channels 0, 0, while the passage 6 communicatesalternately with the channels 0', c'.'

Formed inthe periphery of the valve 4; opposite the passage 6 is anarcuate passage 'd and extending longitudinally of the valve,

passage cl during the rotation of the valve o communicates alternatelywith the chan= nels c, 0, while the passage 05 communicates alternatelywith the channels 0, 0'. The passages d, d, communicate through adiagonal passage f formed in the valve and the passage d extends into anannular passage 9 formed in the valve beyond the end of passage a. Thisannular passage 9 communicates on one side of the bore, through achannel i, with achamber h.

The chamber k is adapted to communicate with the high pressure cylindersII and IV by means of a channel 2" which communicates with said chamberh and is adapted to communicate with a channel m controlled by a valveis (Fig. 2) and this channel m communicates with a channel 'm', thelatter being directly connected at opposite ends to the high pressurecylinders between the ends thereof, (Figs. 1 and 4). v

A channel 17 is arranged to communicate at opposite ends with one end ofeach high pressure cylinder and a spring controlled valve 0 is mountedin each of the latter to prevent back pressure from the channel 1) tothe high pressure cylinders. This channel 1 communicates with a channel1), the upper end of which opens into a valve chamber q and this chamber9 contains a non-return valve adapted to close the upper end of thechannel 7) and said chamber 9 communicates, by means of a channel 1 witha filter chamber 8. The filter chamber 8 communicates with one end of achannel at the other end of whic closed, under certain conditionshereinafter described, by the valve is. The channel 77 is provided at apoint between its ends with a port t through which said channelcommunicates with a storage chamber or flask 11. The valved end of thischannel '71 communicates, when opened by the valve 70, with the channeli which, as stated above, communicates with the chamber it.

An exhaust valve 10 is provided in the channel 32 below the non-returnvalve g.

The working of the apparatus is as follows:

When the crank-shaft 2 is driven by means of the sprocket wheel 1 thecross-heads 4c are reciprocated, by reason of their connection with thecrank-shaft, and the pistons are also reciprocated. If the startingapparatus is working as a compressor, air passes (during suction stroke)at a (F1gs. 1 and 2) into the distributing valve '0 and through thepassage 5 Z) and channels 6, 0 and 0', c alternately, into the largecylinders I and III. The valve 1* is driven from the crankshaft by thechain B, and consequently always rotates in the same direction as thecrank-shaft. During the compression stroke the air flows from the largecylinders I and III alternately through the channels 0, 0 and 0', 0 inthe casing G, the passage d, d, f and g of the valve, and channel 1' tothe chamber h.

From the chamber It the air flows into the high pressure cylinders IIand TV through the channel 2', past valve k and through channels m, m.The valve being positively actuated (through the lever 2) closes thechannel n. The air compressed in the high pressure cylinders flows pastthe valves 0, through channels 7), p, past non-return valve 9, Fig. i,and channel 1* to the filter chamber a, and thence through the channel aand port 6 to the storage chamber or flask 11, (Fig. 6

When the apparatus is to work 1: a mo tor the valve is is set by meansor its lever so that the channel a is opened and the channel m closed.The direction. of rotation of the crank-shaft is now reversed by anysuit able mechanism (not shown) and only the low pressure cylinders areoperative. Com; pressed air is then admitted from the storage chamber orflask ll to the casing G. and flows through the port f, channel 21, pastvalve 7. and through channel 5 to the cham her it. The flow of airthrough the filter chamber 3 is now prevented by the valve 1 From thechamber h the air flows through the channel i to the distributingvalve 1) and through passages g, a, f and (Z, to the channels 0, c and0, 0 leading to the cylinders I and III. The exhaust from the lowpressure cylinders takes place through passage a. The exhaust valve 10connected also to lever 2 allows the air to escape into the atmospherefrom the cylinders II and TV, so that the pistons in these cylinders donot oppose the working of the apparatus as a motor.

The .highpressure cylinders 11 and IV are single acting, and when theapparatus is working as a motor their pistons move idlv.

These pistons hrve no stufiing boxes at the crank-shaft end.

For obtaining good etticiency when work ing as a compressor, the numberof revolutions is kept at about 350 to 400 per minute. For this purposethe reducing gear B (Fig. 6) is provided, giving the number ofrevolutions required during the compression work, whereas when theapparatus is used for starting, a high number of revolutions is obtainedowing to the direct admission of the compressed air at high pressure tothe cylinders I, III. In Fig. 6, 12 is the motor casin 10 the motorcylinder, 13 the car frame, and 11 the air flask. In the case of motorswhere it is possible the reducing gear is placed directly on the motorshaft, and need not be mounted as illustrated, above part of theapparatus.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent oithe United States is:

1. A pneumatic start-er for engines com;

prising a crank shaft,twc pairs oi: o raiders, each pair consisting of adouble ac-.ng low pressure motor cylinder and a single acting highpressure compressor cvlirahn; one pair arranged above the plane of thecrank haft and the other pair arranged. below said plane, pistons in thec .indcrs, and crossheads connecting tie pistons to the crank shaft.

2, A. pneumatic starter for claimed in claim 1, in which the crank shaftand cross-heats are arranged in a casing common to both pairs ofcylinders.

23. A. pneumatic starter for engines as ciaimed in claim 1, in which,means are providcd for compressing the air in two stages whereby thecompression is double acting in the low pressure stage and single actingin the high pressure stage, only the low pres sure cylinder beingoperative when the apparatus is used as a motor.

-l. A pneumatic starter for engines ,as claimed in claim 1, in which apositively controlled rotary distributing valve is proengines as videdand passages Controlled by the valve for alternately supplying airtothedouble acting low pressure cylinders.

5. A pneumatic starter for engines as claimed in claims 1 and 2,;inwhich the casing is formed with a plurality of passages for supplyingair to the cylinders, a pres-. sure reservoir connected with thepassages, and a positively actuated rotary distributing Valveforcontrolling said passages whereby air is supplied alternately to thelow pressure cylinders and exhausted from the latter to the atmospherethrough the valve.

' 6. A pneumatic starter for engines as claimed in claims 1 and 2,compressor in which the casing is formed with a plurality of passagesfor supplying air to the cylinders, a pressure chamber connected withthe passages, and a positively operating as a actuated rotarydistributing valve for con- 20 claimed in claim 1, in which a storagefiask 25 is supplied with air from the high pressure cylinders, andmeans whereby air from the storage tank is supplied to the low pressurecylinders to drive the pistons therein.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing 30 as our invention, we havesigned our names in presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

ANTON YHUWILER. HARRY MAGGI.

Witnesses a ARNOLD ZUBER, FRANZ GRATZNEY.

